Andrew Ansaldi Jr., Noted Manchester Builder, Dies At 78

Andrew Ansaldi Jr., who worked 55 years to build his family's construction business, which became well-known for its quality custom homes, died on Jan. 5. He was 78.

After graduating from Dartmouth College in 1959, he joined his father, Andrew Ansaldi Sr., at the family business.

The Andrew Ansaldi Co. was started in 1925 with just one pickup truck. The company built hundreds of homes, apartment complexes, commercial buildings and other buildings in Manchester and surrounding areas.

Andrew Ansaldi Jr. focused on designing and building custom homes.

"Where my grandfather really was involved with post-war housing, which tended to be quick and all very similar, my father's real passion was custom homes," said his son, Aaron, who works for the company along with his brother Alex Ansaldi. "When he came on, that's when the company evolved into custom homes."

Ansaldi Jr.'s love for early American history and style made its way into his designs. He particularly enjoyed building colonial-style homes.

"It was the creative process," Aaron Ansaldi said. "He was able to mix the engineering mind with the creative mind and put the two together."

The term "Ansaldi-built" have become keywords for the company. "It means quality," said his son Adam. "It wasn't just slapping it up. It's about doing it right."

"Realtors would advertise a home in the paper, and they still do to this day — it will say 'Ansaldi-built,'" Aaron Ansaldi said. "It meant something."

"There's a lot of history with the family and he took pride in what he built," Adam Ansaldi said. "He would always say his name's on it, it's Ansaldi built, so he took pride at building it right and correct and that it looked nice."

Ansaldi Jr.'s developments include the Lookout Mountain area of Manchester near Case Mountain, the Villager Apartments at Sycamore Lane and a number of commercial structures.

Andrew Ansaldi Jr., who lived in Manchester until the 1970s, when he moved to Bolton, was also a founding member of Manchester State Bank. In 1970, a group of businessmen, including Ansaldi Jr., started the bank on Main Street. He was chairman of the board of directors until 1996. The bank has since merged with Webster Bank.

The Andrew Ansaldi Co. now employs 22 and remains family-run.

"Family and hard work became his hallmarks," Adam Ansaldi said. "We all worked there as kids, every vacation and summer. There's a lot of heritage here. It was very important to him."